their techniques in reading to their children. Drawing onbubbles, words written in crayon or large font, or words thatresearch that links language learning to reading readiness,whoosh up and down the page, says Laura Justice, PhD, anUniversity of Nebraska educational psychology professor Susaneducational researcher at Ohio State University and authorM. Sheridan, PhD, and her colleagues work with teachers toof the 2010 book “Engaging Children with Print: Buildingpromote parent engagement in early literacy in rural NebraskaEarly Literacy Skills with Quality Read-Aloud Books.” In herand Kansas City Head Start preschool classrooms.

studies using eye-tracking technology, Justice has found thatUsing an intervention called Pre-3T, the teachers Sheridanchildren look at letters and words more frequently in booksworks with help parents learn strategies to increase children’sthat have print-rich details. She’s also found that preschoolexposure to language and build verbal expression skills. Forchildren whose teachers accentuate print details as they readexample, parents learn to prompt children to share about their— by talking about how the print moves left to right andday, by replacing yes or no questions like, “Did you have a goodpointing out when letters reappear, for example — are betterday?” with open-ended inquiries like, “Tell me about all thereaders and spellers by the end of first grade.

books you read today.”Connecting with the type primes these children for that“Children who are given opportunities to converse and havethrilling moment when a string of letters pops off the pagea rich language discourse across their natural environment arethen primed to pick up on the tasks necessary to learn to read,”as a word, Justice says. “Knowing about print is an importantfoundation for developing word reading skills down the road.” n

Psychologist-designed readingprogram, which offers familylibrary sessions once a week

intervention in actionin Milwaukee’s Head Startclassrooms, at which parentscan see a video offeringtips on reading to children.

Stoiber’s graduate students
are there to help parents select
developmentally appropriate
titles, a task that often
confounds many parents and
teachers. “Often preschool-age
books don’t come with the right
vocabulary words and many are
too dense,” Gonzalez says.

In fact, some of the most
beautifully written and
illustrated books for children
don’t introduce many words
and concepts that children can
connect to their lives, he says.

Yet others, like the book “The
Snowy Day,” feature complex
words like “melt” that parents
and teachers can use to ask
children to discuss their own
experiences and knowledge

Digital Vision

about things that melt, he says.Parents and teachers shouldWatch a teacher use psychologists’ techniques that make learning toalso choose books with “print-read more fun and engaging for young students.rich” details — features thatdraw children’s eyes to wordsand letters, such as dialogue